Kara Anderson - Cerebral palsy (USA) Posted on January 20, 2010

Name: Kara Anderson                         

Sex: Female

Country: USA

Age: 9

Diagnosis: Cerebral palsy

Admission Date: 2009-12-16

Days Admitted to the Hospital: 38

Pre-treatment:

Kara was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Soon after her birth she had cyanosis, and about 2 minutes later, she cried. She was then put on a special diet. Her family members found that her upper left limb was often flexed onto her chest region and she was unable to turn over. The head CT scan showed that she had cerebral palsy. Kara received rehabilitation training, and afterwards was able to turn over when she was 9 months old. She was able to sit up when she was 15 months old, and crawl when she was 2 years old. She had her first grand mal epileptic seizure when she was 3 years old and after that time she had partial seizures occasionally. She was diagnosed with epilepsy and was given antiepileptic medication (oxcarbazepine 150mgQ12h). The doses increased accordingly with her weight increase. She had a very limited vocabulary and could only say "Father" and "Mama." She could speak more words when she was 4 years old. She was able to walk with the use of walking aids, but had an abnormal gait. The last epileptic seizure was 6 months ago.

Kara's family was told about our medical facility from a friend and learned about the success record of Dr. Wu, Dr. Wang and their medical team in treating patients with cerebral palsy. So Kara's family made the decision to come to our hospital for stem cell treatment.

Treatment:

We initially gave Kara a complete examination. Then we gave her a total of four stem cell transplantations and stem cell activation treatment to repair the damage to the neurons. She received treatment to improve the blood circulation in order to increase the blood supply to the damaged nerves and to nourish the neurons. She was also given daily physical rehabilitation training to promote the recovery of her motor functioning. At the same time, she received medication to control her epileptic seizures.

Post-treatment:

After 38 days of treatment, Kara's condition had shown good improvement. Her mood had improved and she was better able to communicate with others. She referred to the physical therapist as "Mommy, in a courteous way". Kara's left hand is more flexible than before; the movement and flexibility of the left shoulder joint has increased. The spinal cord and the iliopsoas muscle group have gotten stronger; she can now walk with the support of crutches. The muscle tension of the adductor muscles in both lower limbs has decreased. There has been a decrease in the varus knees deformity, reducing muscle tension. The clonus in both ankles has been alleviated.

Date: January 26, 2010

After Kara's discharge, her condition continued to improve and her family members sent an email to us:

"Kara returned home on Thursday, January 21st.  She did well on the flight and has been healthy since returning. She is tired due to jet lag, but her sleeping is improving each day. Kara returned to school this past Monday and was very excited to see her friends and teachers again. She was able to share many stories, especially with pictures from the trip, which she used as cues.  Her teachers reported that she seemed quieter than usual, but that her attention span seemed to be longer and she wasn't as distractible as she was previously. Her resource teacher reported that Kara's hands seemed more relaxed on the keyboard when typing an exercise and she stayed with it for longer than usual.

Kara did not start back again with her therapy this week; her school day is already quite long and we decided to take one thing at a time starting with school. The evening therapy sessions will begin again next week, February 1, and she will start her physical, occupational and speech therapies.

All the required medications were brought home with Kara. She takes the medications as prescribed, with the exception of the Baclofen, which she takes a half a tablet twice daily instead of a quarter of a tablet four times daily. If this presents a problem, please let me know and I will try to arrange a different schedule. It was difficult to arrange for the medication to be given to Kara at school, hence the change.

Since returning, Kara has seemed more emotional than usual, possibly due to tiredness/jet lag. Also, she is still adjusting to being home and trying to get in her usual routine again. She is eating and sleeping well at this time and her attitude and behavior are improving as well. 

Kara uses her walker to ambulate at school and also uses the crutches during certain parts of each day at school. Safety was an issue with the crutches since there are many other children moving through the hallways at school.  The therapist and teachers at school will continue working with Kara on her crutches to improve her speed, confidence and safety. She began PT at school and I have posted the Physical Therapist's comments below:"

"I saw Kara today and she has really grown!  I raised her walker up two notches, to the highest ones, she really is tall now. We walked with the crutches from Mrs. Jayo's room to the gym and around the office, through the cafeteria back to the room. Similar to the distance you wrote about in the journal.  On the way we climbed the stairs to the computer room. Kara's speed is better as is the cadence of her walking. The whole time I did not have to cue her or say right crutch/left foot etc. She did it all by herself. Mrs. Jayo will be developing routes for her to walk with the crutches, depending on the day's schedule. All in all, a very wonderful first day of therapy!"

Margie Lulinski, PT

"We work at home with Kara on tasks/exercises with her left hand and she continues to do well. Also, she uses her crutches at home and does well with them when she pays attention. I will forward comments from Kara's other therapists in weekly progress notes in the future. Please do contact me with any questions, concerns or other issues.  Thank you!"

Jan Anderson

2010-01-28

Susan,

Please find attached a progress update from Jan Anderson regarding Kara's first few days home.  Please share this with those at WSCMC who will be interested.

Thanks for the great work the hospital did on this case.

Regards,